Last night’s series finale of Nurse Jackie left viewers unsure of whether the title character lived or died. (Spoilers ahead.) Everything was looking rosy for Jackie Peyton but, at the party for her closing All Saints Hospital, she overdosed and it wasn’t clear if she’d survived or not.
For his part, executive producer and showrunner Clyde Phillips likes to think that she survived but the ending was left open on purpose. He told Variety, “I welcome that conversation (about the finale)… I hope the show will be talked about in a healthy way for a while after it ends.”
Phillips shared that Nurse Jackie was initially going to end very differently. There would have been a fire that breaks out in the ER in the finale. Jackie would have braved the flames to free an addict that had been handcuffed to a hospital bed in the basement.
It would look like she’d perished in the flames but viewers would then see her squeeze out of a tiny window — like a birth. She would start running down an alley, toward a crowd of staffers, but then she would decide to turn around and run the other way. She would be a free woman, able to start over.
Ultimately, it was felt that the blazing ending wouldn’t have focused enough on the character and her addictions.
While some fans may be sorry to see the series end, Phillips believes it was time. He said, “We’d played that out as long as we could… It was time for the show to end.”
What do you think? Do you think Jackie lived or died? Did you like the shows ending?
This was a perfect ending: Optimists can be happy that Jackie is saved in Bellvue. Pessimists can despair because they know there are no happy-ever-afters. I my mind, she dies, because there can be no other ending. There is a time to get off the merry-go-round. Jackie knew it was her time. It was suicide…selfish and wrong on so many levels. Unfortunately, she does not get revived…not this time.
Her addiction had no where to go but to finally end with an overdose. My family ,myself, and friends have seen too much real life stories about drug abuse. It was painfully obvious that she couldn’t stop abusing drugs. The shame she felted from another relapse was more than she would be able to bare.. After popping pain pills, probably Eddie’s pharmaceuticals, then she truly snorted twice the heroin needed to overdose. There was no where else to go from here for Jackie but an overdose and death. True story stuff. So sad.
that looked nothing like Heroin.
alright tina, we get it, you know what real heroin looks like. Congrats. So how was rehab?
I think it should have been done as a ponderance. People do survive addiction. You never saw what she was putting in her mouth. All the finale could have her thinking what would happen when she took drugs. Then her opening her eyes, taking the box of breath mints out of her pocket and joining her friends. Could have given viewers hope instead of dispair.
I loved the show. i believe it was time for some beautiful yet sad to happen. i like to think jackie passed and her suffering is over. addiction is horrable, im a recovering addict and i live with watching my sister not get clean.i’m afraid she will stop using when she dies.
Am disappointed that that the show is over. It really kept my attention. Zoey was cool. Was inspiring to see how good of a nurse Jackie was, despite her addiction. With each episode, i thought more about going back into the medical field. I’ve never taken drugs, but I have known of people who were addicts. An addict stole money from me. While angry at the lost money, I feel sort of sympathy for those suffering with addictions. It’s an illness. As far as the finale, I liked the ending, although I would’ve liked to know if she lived or… Read more »
i thought the last several seasons were akin to riding a slow boat to nowhere. the bright, spirited doctors and nurses who did great work in the early seasons faded into the background as jackie’s addiction took over. her addiction was melodramatic and predictable. the relationship jackie had with the cop was a total bust–nothing redeeming or engaging about these two main characters or their failed romance. the writers were scraping the bottom of the barrel in an effort to keep our interest. that jackie ended up with eddie is ludicrous. she didn’t love him–she used him. the primary reason… Read more »
i was disappointed with the show. i thought the relationship with the cop a total disaster.
there was nothing redeeming about the experience. also, the first couple of seasons this vibrant ER with a powerful team of nurses and doctors who showed us remarkable things can happen when you are surrounded by bright caring physicians.
It was a sad ending but similar to reality. We saw it coming. Using after she got her license, Her ex has a new life, one kid is coming along, the other is going to college, Zoey is leaving her, the hospital is closing and her fiancée is going to jail. He was her rock and maybe without him she felt she couldn’t go on. It was a sad ending but based in reality and everyday life. We have all either lost someone, known someone or maybe been someone who has experienced this. It sucks but its life and a… Read more »
Since the show ended with having me to decide whether she lives or dies, I’ll go with dies. Jackie will never change – she would have OD eventually. Why not on her last day as a nurse? Maybe now, those in her life can finally live their lives and not have to deal with an addict.
(and yes, I can say that – I lived with an addict – glad he’s out of my life (still alive for now) – I’m finally starting to have a life again)
sounds like you still wanna put the blame on an addict. must be easier than taking a look at yourself.
REPLY TO KIMBERLY AND JAYNE Although I felt the same pain and disappointment you did, Kimberly, at the finale of Nurse Jackie, I begrudgingly realized that the series could end no other way. All good writing must offer the audience a theme or moral and Jackie’s death, because I do think she died, is a necessary, final catharsis that complicates a masterful television show. The life of a chronic drug addict always ends in destruction. After all the chances the lead character was given by those who loved or cared for her, after all the dangerous mistakes and destructive behavior… Read more »
I hate Jackie so much for all the good people she screwed over that I wished the guy with the gun would blow her freaking head off!!
She died ! She was a pharmaceutical pill head . In the end she snorted a gram of street heroin all at once ,it was basically suicide .
Sucked…just like life. Typical junkie but i will miss the show. I was disgusted as soon as i saw her taking pills again. Druggies only care about themselves and the next high.
She’s an addict, just like an alcoholic, they make choices, good ones and bad. She was popping pills after she was given back her license, so, it was inevitable for her to OD. When a person is that consumed, it’s all about themselves, sad but true….
I’ve never been so disappointed and utterly disgusted with the copout way that Nurse Jackie ended. I believe the last time I was this angry was when the Seinfeld finale bombed.” Whomever thought that Jackie potentially overdosing the way she did as well as the actress Edie Falco who even allowed for such a lazy, uninspired, piece of throwaway drivel to aire without protest is in and of itself dumb.” Just plain lazy and dumb. I wanted for Jackie Peyton to have an epiphany and turn her entire life around especially since she was granted with a second chance by… Read more »
REPLY TO KIMBERLY – real life doesn’t have the ending you wanted – it was the perfect ending for an addict. Being a survivor of many people in my life who ACTUALLY died of an overdose, I think that ending was exactly right. The second she got her license back she was USING, did you really expert her to go on like that? BRAVO to the writers of Nurse Jackie for having the GUTS to DO IT REAL! Thank you for a very enjoyable series AND ENDING.
I thought the ending while sad was appropriate. She constantly disappointed everyone and didn’t we see her popping pills soon after she got her license back. I think she lived but would have lost her license for giid.
I so agree with you. Marc Lewis is a neuroscientist and addiction researcher who spent a decade of his life addicted to opiates, including heroin, and other drugs (with all the chronic lying and stealing behavior). Anyone who knows someone with an addiction should read his books (or at least look at the previews on Amazon). Also look up Phoenix Multisport and Addict to Athlete. An addict’s brain is changed by drugs, but it can change back to normal and the cravings leading to relapse go away for good. THERE IS HOPE FOR ADDICTS! What a shame the writers didn’t… Read more »